The various programs of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reflect a
responsiveness to New Mexico's needs for earth- science information. Since
USGS topographers first arrived at Fort Wingate, New Mexico, in 1880, the
USGS has provided the earth-science information on which many decisions
regarding New Mexico's natural resources have been based.

Because New Mexico has limited water resources, hydrologic data are
essential for administering and managing these resources and for monitoring
and assessing trends in hydrologic conditions. The USGS has a network of
data-collection stations (fig. 1) at
selected locations throughout New Mexico that record information on
streamflow and stage, reservoir and lake storage, ground-water levels,
spring discharge, and the quality of surface and ground waters. These
stations, which are funded in cooperation with Federal, State, and local
agencies, have been established to provide a long-term data base. The
hydrologic data-collection program in New Mexico currently consists of 158
continuous streamflow-gaging stations, 173 streamflow partial-record
stations, 46 precipitation stations, 6,100 ground-water wells, and 54
water-quality stations.

Nearly 20,000 Scouts per year at the Philmont Scout Ranch, Boy Scouts of
America, use USGS topographic maps as part of a planning packet to navigate
on hikes and pack trips that range from 50 to 100 miles. The Philmont
Scout Ranch also finds these maps valuable for formulating fire suppression
strategy, search and rescue, and general planning. The Ranch entered into
an agreement with the USGS to produce three 1:24,000-scale sectional maps
of the ranch and to update the 1:45,000-scale map that covers the entire
Ranch. These maps were updated by the USGS in 1995 with an additional
1:24,000-scale map produced that shows newly acquired additions to the
Ranch.

The residents of eastern Bernalillo County are concerned about the current
quality of ground water and its vulnerability to contamination. Because
the county is undergoing rapid population growth and expanded development,
demands on ground water (the only source of drinking-water supplies) and
the potential for ground-water contamination (particularly degradation from
sewage effluent) are increasing. Many of the homes in unincorporated areas
use septic systems. Concentrations of nitrate in ground water have
exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) maximum
contaminant level of 10 milligrams per liter in some parts of eastern
Bernalillo County.

The USGS and the Bernalillo County Environmental Health Department entered
into several cooperative agreements between 1989 and 1995 to collect
ground-water data in several unincorporated areas of the county, including
the eastern mountain area, the northeastern heights, and the northern and
southern valleys of Albuquerque. Water from more than 100 wells in these
areas was sampled and analyzed for a variety of chemical constituents;
water levels were measured when possible. Many of the wells sampled
contained water that exceeded the USEPA's primary drinking-water standards
for nitrates and secondary drinking-water standards for dissolved solids,
sulfate, chloride, iron, or manganese. Data collected indicate that
concentrations of some constituents have increased significantly over the
past 6 years and that, in most areas, the water table is declining. This
monitoring effort will help the county determine the current state of
ground-water quality and levels and possible changes in the
future.

USGS 1:24,000-scale topographic maps (1 inch on the map represents 2,000
feet on the ground) have long been favorites with the general public for
outdoor uses, including hiking, camping, exploring, and back-country
fishing expeditions. These maps depict basic natural and cultural features
of the landscape, such as lakes and streams, highways and railroads,
boundaries, and geographic names; contour lines are used to depict the
elevation and shape of terrain. New Mexico is covered by 2,035 maps at
this scale.

Today, scientists and engineers increasingly depend on digital
(computerized) base maps for their research and analysis. The USGS is
working to ensure the availability of accurate digital cartographic data
for the Nation to facilitate ground-water and hazards studies and
resource-management activities.

Federal, State, and local agencies and other organizations in the United
States and Mexico need cartographic data. The USGS, in cooperation with
these agencies and other organizations, is developing digital map data for
the U.S./Mexico border area (fig. 2). An
area on each side of the border was selected for obtaining the cartographic
data necessary to meet the mapping needs of the cooperating organizations.
A variety of topological and water-resources projects also is underway,
some of which extend as much as 250 miles on each side of the border.
Color infrared aerial photography is being obtained during 1996 for the
U.S. side of the border area. In 1997, the USGS plans to produce digital
orthophotoquads (DOQ's; see "Digital Map Coverage" on p. 4) from these
photographs. The DOQ's are useful for revising maps and other data sources
along the border, including USGS 1:24,000-scale topographic maps. The
digital map data support a wide range of studies of the environment and
resource management on both sides of the border.

To meet some initial user needs in 1996, the USGS is digitizing Boundary
and Public Land Survey System data from USGS 1:24,000-scale maps that cover
the areas on each side of the border. The USGS also is producing
1:24,000-scale digital raster graphics (DRG's) of the 1:24,000-scale maps
in the area. DRG's are scanned images of USGS topographic maps that can be
used as a base to register, collect, and revise other data themes.
Additional information about U.S./Mexico border mapping can be found at the
U.S.–Mexico Border Field Coordinating Committee World Wide Web page at:

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) through the USGS established
the Competitive Cooperative Agreements Program (CCAP) to help form
data-sharing partnerships with the non-Federal sector and to provide
funding to State and local government agencies, academia, and the private
sector to encourage resource-sharing projects through technology,
networking, and interagency coordination. The CCAP funded the development
of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure clearinghouse around New Mexico's
Resource Geographic Information System (RGIS) Program by the University of
New Mexico Earth Data Analysis Center. This project involves modifying the
current RGIS Program metadata standard (metadata are used to describe data
sets) to make RGIS Program and State agency data more compatible with FGDC
metadata standards.

About one-half of the total population of New Mexico depends on the
ground-water resources of the middle Rio Grande Basin. The population in
this area is increasing rapidly, and urban planners in the municipalities
and pueblos in the Santa Fe/Albuquerque urban corridor need geologic
information. A complete characterization of these resources is hampered by
a scarcity of data in the northern and southern areas of the Basin. In
response, the USGS has created a program to provide additional data.
Ongoing studies emphasize refinement of estimates of the processes and
quantities of water moving through the ground-water system. The USGS is
collecting and compiling data for 1:100,000-scale geologic maps, conducting
areal geophysical surveys, and compiling maps of faults and related
structures in the Basin.

In 1995, the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP)
began a new project, which is called statemap, that provides funding for
important geologic mapping in New Mexico for the Los Alamos, the
Albuquerque, and the Belen 30- by 60-minute quadrangles (fig. 3), which cover the area of the Santa
Fe/Albuquerque urban corridor. The maps, which are prepared in cooperation
with the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, the University
of New Mexico, New Mexico Tech, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, are
being produced as multipurpose digital geographic information system data
bases and conventional paper products to provide baseline geologic data.

The USGS, in cooperation with the city of Albuquerque, conducted a study
during 1993-94 that helped confirm that the most productive zone of the
Santa Fe Group aquifer system is much less extensive and thinner than was
previously assumed. Water-level declines are greater than predicted by
hydrologic investigations in the 1960's, and nonpumping water levels in
some city production wells have declined more than 100 feet in recent
years.

The ground-water flow model developed during the 1993-94 study was revised
in 1995 (fig. 4) to include new information
on the hydrogeologic framework of the Albuquerque Basin. Although the
differences between the two versions of the model are significant, output
from the revised model does not contradict previous conclusions about the
effects of city ground-water withdrawals on flow in the Rio Grande or on
the net benefits of an effort to conserve ground water.

(Click on image for a larger version, 50K JPEG)

Figure 4. Simulated decline in hydraulic head in model
layer 9 in the Albuquerque area assuming the current growth trend between
1995 and 2020.

The USGS and the City of Albuquerque are studying hydrologic relations
between the Santa Fe Group aquifer system and the Rio Grande so that the
effects of ground-water withdrawal from the aquifer on flow in the Rio
Grande can be defined better. A 1995 USGS study indicated that the aquifer
is not being recharged by the river to the extent once thought. Ground
water is the only water supply for Albuquerque, which is the largest
municipality in New Mexico.

To help determine the hydraulic connection between the aquifer and the
river, a large-scale aquifer test was conducted at the Griegos well field
in Albuquerque. This site is close to existing monitoring wells and to the
Rio Grande and is isolated from other city production well fields. After 3
months of recorded ground-water recovery, the Griegos 1 well was switched
on and pumped continuously for about 55 days with an average discharge of
2,330 gallons per minute. Twenty two monitoring wells were instrumented to
provide a record of the changes in ground-water levels with time.

The Capitan aquifer is the primary source of freshwater for the city of
Carlsbad and several other communities in Eddy County and also a source of
irrigation water for southeastern New Mexico. Water moves from Lake Avalon
through channels in the Tansill Formation and mixes with water in the
Capitan aquifer. This water then becomes part of the flow of Carlsbad
Springs. Previous studies of the aquifer have indicated that water with
dissolved-solids concentrations from 3,000 to 10,000 milligrams per liter
(moderately saline) could be moving through the Tansill Formation and the
Capitan Limestone from Lake Avalon to areas northwest of Carlsbad.

The USGS and the New Mexico State Engineer Office are compiling historical
water-level, water-quality, and aquifer-test data for the Capitan aquifer
in Eddy and Lea Counties and the Tansill Formation between Lake Avalon and
Carlsbad and collecting new data in selected areas. These data will help
support a better understanding and sound management of the water resources
of the Capitan aquifer.

The Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge in Colfax County is located near the
center of the Vermejo Irrigation Project. The USGS, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are
cooperating in a study to determine if irrigation water from the project
has significant potential to cause harmful effects to fish and wildlife or
to impair other uses of the water in the wildlife refuge. Elevated
concentrations of selenium in water, sediment, plants, and animals in the
wildlife refuge have been detected in previous USFWS studies. These
elevated concentrations may adversely affect the wildlife on the refuge,
especially the migratory and resident birds that breed there. Several
potential sources of selenium and other contaminants in the watershed
upstream from the irrigation project include soils and bedrock,
agriculture, coal mining and processing, and atmospheric
deposition.

Digital elevation model (DEM) maps can be used to create three-dimensional
perspectives of the landscape to assess slope and aspect for use in
vegetation and habitat mapping. The USGS, in cooperation with the Bureau
of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, has completed
1:100,000-scale DEM coverage for New Mexico. The status of 1:24,000-scale
DEM mapping is shown in figure 5. DEM data
consist of an array of regularly spaced elevations keyed to a USGS
quadrangle map. The DEM's are merged at the University of New Mexico with
satellite and aerial scanner data.

The USGS, in cooperation with the Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS), also is producing digital orthophotoquads (DOQ's). A DOQ is a
digital image of an aerial photograph with displacements removed that are
caused by the camera and the terrain. A DOQ combines the image
characteristics of a photograph with the geometric qualities of a map.
Present DOQ coverage in New Mexico includes Cimarron and the Taos and the
Zuni Indian Reservations. The NRCS applies DOQ's to soil surveys,
conservation planning, and farm and ranch management. State agencies use
DOQ's for toxic waste site and facilities management. Information about
USGS DOQ's can be found on the World Wide Web at:

To provide nationally consistent information on water quality, the USGS
implemented the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The
goals of the NAWQA Program are to describe the status of and trends in the
quality of a large representative part of the Nation's surface- and
ground-water resources and to identify the natural and human factors that
affect their quality. This is useful information for policymakers and
water managers at the Federal, State, and local levels. The NAWQA Program
is carried out through a series of study units that encompass important
drainage basins and population centers. Two NAWQA Program studies are
underway in New Mexico-in the Rio Grande Valley and the Southern High
Plains.

During the highly intensive phase of the Rio Grande Valley study (1993-95),
shallow ground water in the Albuquerque area and the San Luis and the
Rincon Valleys was sampled and analyzed for major ions, nutrients,
pesticides, volatile organic compounds, trace elements, and radon. Surface
water was sampled at a fixed network for major ions, nutrients, and
suspended sediments. Surface-water studies were conducted in the Mesilla
Valley for pesticides and nutrients and in the upper Rio Grande Valley for
trace elements. Ecological data on habitat assessment, fish population,
algae, and invertebrate populations have been collected throughout the
study area.

The Southern High Plains study focuses on the water quality of the High
Plains (Ogallala) aquifer in parts of eastern New Mexico and the Texas
Panhandle. The study also characterizes the water quality and ecological
diversity of the thousands of playa lakes that provide nesting and winter
habitat for millions of migrating waterfowl each year.

from U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological
Survey, Fact Sheet FS-031-96

For more information contact any of the following:

Additional earth science
information can be found by
accessing the USGS Home Page
on the World Wide Web at
http://www.usgs.gov/

For more information on
all USGS reports and products
(including maps, images,
and computerized data), call
1-888-ASK-USGS

The USGS provides maps, reports, and information to help
others meet their needs to manage, develop, and protect America's water,
energy, mineral, biological, and land resources. We help find the natural
resources needed to build tomorrow and supply the scientific understanding
needed to help minimize or mitigate the effects of natural hazards and
environmental damage caused by natural and human activities. The results
of our efforts touch the daily life of almost every American.